a blog on being a baba, parenting, and politics

Posts tagged “KKK”

I had a FULL and revolutionary type weekend and it is the new year! There are many parts to this story but it will end here for now. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it. I could go on about what else I did in San Diego and my journey but none of it will be as profound as this revelation: Learning to forgive and not forget.

After San Diego, during the start of the US War on Iraq in 2003, I decided to return to my family and community in San Francisco/Bay Area. Before that I took a year off to “heal” in China, of all places, and, during SARS, of all times. I wanted to re-learn and improve my Chinese. I did just that and studied my butt off in Guangzhou, China. It turned out to be one of the most isolating times in my life. But, in insolation, I realized my core purpose, which was coming back to the Bay….

Trigger warnings: Recording of racial epithets in a voicemail targeting me and other Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islanders and queer folks. This is one of my darker posts.

After high school, I entered college at UC San Diego as a pretty righteous Asian, a Bay Area Asian. I thought I “overcame” racism and discrimination by proving the racists wrong. I immediately ran for office and became the freshman senator for my college. I thought I was done; but in reality my journey was just beginning.

There is a lot to say about San Diego and I do it here. From being a conservative military and border town to Pete Wilson former mayor running for governor, San Diego was no place for a righteous Asian to be. My heart was crushed many times here and yet my experiences in San Diego also lit a fire in my belly — a fire that has never been extinguished.

1994 was the year that the University of California regents proposed the elimination affirmative action. The campus climate was divided among whites and people of color. You could cut the tension with a knife….

I often wonder what it will be like when Collin grows up. What will it be like to be Chinese/Vietnamese in the Bay Area. Will he be bullied for being autistic or just being different? I was picked on for being chubby, colorblind, non-athletic, different/awkward, the usual. I was also bullied for being too political or just being Chinese.

In the era of Trumpism, I am surprised (and not surprised) at the re-emergence of the KKK and white nationalism. This was my own experience growing up in the 1980s-90s in the Bay Area, Fremont to be exact.

I actually started writing this during Charlottesville last year and there are 3 parts to the story. Surprisingly, it was over dinner one night that my parents wanted to talk about the KKK and Charlottesville, and of course the violence that was going on…..